Story and Discourse

This is the result of a class conversation in which we collectively tried to figure out how story and discourse worked in relation to each other in The Wizard of Oz, an exploration that appears at the end of chapter 4. We've used Propp's plot structure, as discussed in chapter 10, to categorize repeated thematic elements.

Consider the relation of story and discourse in the text.

Definitions:

Story:

• characters
• themes
• places
• objects--back-formation from text

Discourse:

• plot
• narrator
• focalization
• thematic structure--experienced as you read text

The Propp categories:

• preparation:
• description of Dorothy's home "in the midst of the great Kansas prairies"
• "with Uncle Henry and Aunt Em"
• grey prairie, grey house, grey people
• people "never laugh"
• Uncle Henry's "rough boots"--all of this information comes in the first part of chapter 1, which ends with Dorothy falling asleep in her bed
• civilized country--doesn't believe in witches
• complication:
• the cyclone--dangerous, frightening, sharp
• rising up, carries away house
• set down in a new country of "marvelous beauty" with green and rich and colourful fruits and flowers, birds with brilliant plumage
• meets a group of people--"queer," "blue"
• Dorothy has killed the Wicked Witch of the East
• problem: how to get back home to Kansas--end of 1 and beginning of 2
• transference:
• Dorothy is told that she must go to Oz to find a way home
• she receives the "round, shining mark" of the witch's kiss
• takes up her journey by dressing herself in her best gingham dress and puts on the silver shoes which have some charm associated with them--chapter 2 and beginning of 3
• Munchkin land; meeting with Scarecrow, who also takes up the quest (3); Scarecrow's story; finds cottage in the forest to sleep in (4); they find the Tinman, who joins their quest; Tinman's story (5); they find the Cowardly Lion in the forest, who joins the "little company" (6)
• struggle 1:ÝÝÝÝÝ
• come to great ditch and cross on the back of the Lion (7)
• meet the Kalidahs and leave them on the shore while they cross on the Tinman's bridge (7)
• come to a fast-moving river and cross on a raft the Tinman makes (7,8), but leave the Scarecrow stuck in the middle of the river on a pole (8) and come ashore only because the Lion tows them (8); meet a Stork who agrees to fly the Scarecrow to shore (8)
• Dorothy falls asleep in the field of poppies as does the Lion (8); Tinman rescues the queen of the field mice from the wildcats, asks her assistance to rescue the Lion (9)
• find shelter in the house of a friendly family in the Emerald countryside and arrive at the Emerald City where the Guardian of the Gate gives them spectacles so they can enter (10)
• seek audience with the Wizard, who agrees to see them because he hears of the mark on Dorothy's forehead and who appears to each of them in different guises--as an enormous Head, as a lovely Lady, and as a ball of fire (11); however, this is not the end of the quest but the beginning of the struggle, since he sends them on to kill the Wicked Witch of the West
• the "queer company" decides to take up this quest since they cannot otherwise reach their objectives
• struggle 2:
• they encounter the groups of beasts sent out to defeat them--the "pack of great wolves"(defeated by Tinman); the "flock of wild crows" (defeated by the Scarecrow); the "swarm of black bees" (defeated by the Tinman and the Scarecrow); the dozen Winkies (defeated by the Lion); the crowd of Winged Monkeys (who defeat them and carry them to the Witch, where they are made slaves) (12)
• defeat of hero and victory of villain:
• this is only temporary, since Dorothy inadvertently kills the Witch by pouring water over her (12) and rescuing her friends (12, 13); Tinman is especially honoured by the Winkies
• return 1:
• can't find the way back to Oz, but learn the power of the Golden Cap and summon the Winged Monkeys (hear their story) (14)
• wait to see the Wizard and eventually gain admission to him by threatening to call the Winged Monkeys; discover that he is a "great humbug" (hear Wizardís story) (15) but find that he can grant the wishes of Dorothy's three friends (16); in trying to send Dorothy home, he leaves himself (17), and Scarecrow is made ruler (17)
• return 2:
• Scarecrow suggests that they call the Winged Monkeys, who tell them to see Glinda, the Witch of the South (18)
• struggle 3:trying to get to Glinda, they are attacked by the fighting trees (19), have to negotiate the china country (20), defeat a monster spider in the boggy forest (21), and pass over the Hammer-Heads with the help of the Winged Monkeys (22), eventually arriving in the land of the Quadlings
• Glinda dispenses returns to all with the help of the Winged Monkeys: the Scarecrow to the Emerald City where he will rule, the Tinman to the Winkies in the West, and the Lion to the forest in the South; Dorothy learns the charm of her silver slippers, which take her back to Kansas (23)
• recognition:
• Dorothy loses her silver slippers (23) and sees Aunt Em, who recognizes her as "my darling child" (24)

We came to the conclusion that this novel is built around rising and falling movements, and these are set against movements across obstacles. However, we eventually decided that the movements across obstacles were actually also rising actions--movements up and over obstacles. This struck us as interesting because the novel apparently is about a long and arduous journey on the yellow brick road but in fact always undercuts the hard work that is predicted for Dorothy and her friends by finding ways for them to fly across difficulties. The motif of the "silver slippers" takes on new meaning, then, since in the land of Oz Dorothy doesn't need the rough work boots worn by people like Uncle Henry in Kansas--there is, in fact, no work to be done by her.

Mapping Plot Structure and Thematic Structure
in The Wizard of Oz

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